04/17/2013

Estate Planning for Blended Families – What You Need to Know

With more than 50 percent of first marriages
failing and 75 percent of the partners remarrying, “blended” families — which
include children from earlier unions — have become the norm.

When you have a mixture of
children and parents of various marriages and biological/legal relationships,
you have what’s called a “blended family.” If your family is blended, be
careful when planning your estate and make sure you understand the difficulties
at hand.

Granted, every family is unique.
So it is with blended families. Some are created early in life and others are
formed later in life. One or both spouses may be widowed or divorced, even
multiple times with multiple “sets” of children from prior relationships. As
you can see, the family dynamics alone can get complicated very quickly.

Who will inherit what, when will
they inherit and who will control the inheritance? When inheritance issues are
added to the other family dynamics, everything can explode like nitro and
glycerin shaken together. The
Poughkeepsie Journal recently considered this topic in an article titled “Plan estate carefully for blended family.”

As you imagine, communication is
key. Blended families who are open and share at least the general contours of
their estate plans have fewer problems. That noted, however, you know your
family members best. For example, which children or in-laws are most likely to
become outlaws?

Adding provisions to your estate
plan is one way to hinder troublemakers from challenging your wishes. Remember,
estate planning is not a DIY project, especially when it pertains to blended
families.